Coral Springs Medical Center CEO Resigns Following Power Shift at Hospital System

Patrick Maloney resigned Friday as the chief executive officer of Coral Springs Medical Center, inviting speculation that he found himself the wrong side of a political faultline at the public hospital district.

There were signs of Maloney's departure as recently as last week's board meeting. That's when Dr. Carrie Greenspan, chief of staff at the Coral Springs hospital, gave the four newly appointed commissioners a long list of Maloney's virtues as an executive. She described his "open-door" policies and the climate of high-morale fostered by his leadership. Her remarks were much more expansive than those given by other chiefs of staff, and now it seems she either hoped to save Maloney's job or at least place her support of him on the permanent record. There was also a "farewell" tone to Maloney's remarks later in the meeting.

Maloney was not available for comment, but sources at Broward Health indicate he was indeed well-liked by staff. He reportedly clashed with Nask, however.

Commissioner Robert Bernstein had built his case for firing Nask from a sense that Nask was a poor manager of hospital resources and that he'd filtered hospital administrators who sought to inform the Broward Health commissioners about issues on the front lines. When I asked Bernstein if he had any ideas who he'd hire to replace Nask, he told me a CEO from one of the system's hospitals.

It's not clear whether Maloney's reported rivalry with Nask led him to play a role in Bernstein's efforts to fire Nask. Bernstein, of course, was ousted two weeks ago, while he was in the midst of that effort. The former commissioner did not respond to e-mailed questions.